Millennium Instruments
by Spotty1006
Summary: "I didn't suspect anything unusual about this day, and for days afterward I didn't think this day had any impact on recent events. But I should have known better..."
1. Explanations

**This is my first Yu-Gi-Oh story. It does not take place in Japan, which means none of the characters are the same, and the Millennium Items aren't here either. Instead, this is America, with new characters and something different: Millennium Instruments!  
Some things may remind you of the Millennium Items...like the power to control rabbits is sort of like the Millennium Rod, but whatever.**

**Also, after I started writing this I realized that all the names of everyone I've figured out so far are female- WHOOPS! But for the sake of the story and LibitheWolf, who inspired me to make Amaya a male, I'm leaving genders as I have them now. Good day sir.**

**

* * *

**In a school, a teacher stood before her students. She, the teacher, looked utterly bored, but for once her students seemed interested.

"As you all know, in Japan there are seven Millennium Items. However, here in America, we have six Millennium Instruments that are identified from other instruments with a green coat of paint. Please turn your attention to the slide show," the teacher sighed. She really needed a vacation.

The excited students turned their attention to the slide show. I, Leiko, also turned my attention to the slide show, but I wasn't terribly interested. The projector projecting the slide show projected an image of a white slide with the words 'Millennium Instruments' on it. _How interesting,_ I thought.

"This is the Millennium Flute," the teacher said as she changed the slide to a picture of a green flute. "It has the ability to put any living creature to sleep, only waking up when the holder desires." The slide changed to a picture of a green saxophone.

"The Millennium Saxophone can create any kind of stench, making it a great insect repellent." The teacher then change the slide to a picture of a green tuba. "The Millennium Tuba gives the flu to anyone of your choice, even if they've had a vaccination against Influenza."

"Hey, Leiko! It's getting to the best part!" Amaya, my best friend, whispered loudly.

"I'd like to hear this, Amaya," I whispered back. Amaya, who was sitting in front of me, was getting on my nerves, as he'd been whispering random things to me all day. Plus there was the fact that Mrs. Kimura, our teacher, had never explained what the Millennium Instruments could do before. She had only explained what they were.

By now, the slide show was showing a green baritone. "-Baritone allows you to impersonate anyone or anything on your mind."

"See, Leiko? It's hilarious!" Amaya whispered with an I-told-you-so look.

"Turn around," I told him softly as Mrs. Kimura changed the slide to a green clarinet.

"The Millennium Clarinet causes anyone within listening range to go deaf if the wielder desires. And the Millennium French Horn can control the minds of rabbits," Mrs. Kimura finished with a switch to the last slide, which showed a green french horn. "No one knows who possesses any of the Millennium Instruments, as it always changes due to everyone challenging each other to random games of hopscotch for ownership of the Millennium Instruments. Any questions?"

Two kids raised their hands. The smarter kid was wondering how the Millennium Instruments were activated, while the other kid was wondering what the heck hopscotch had to do with anything and was thinking that America should just get the game Duel Monsters and copy Japan, like everything else in America.

The bell rang then, making the two kids raising their hands have to wonder about this for an eternity more.

"None? Good, now go!" Mrs. Kimura commanded, suddenly cheerful and happy.

_What's gotten into her? _I thought.

The other students grumbled and complained, but they finally left.

I hoped that I could lose Amaya in the crowd, but he found me anyway. Best friends tend to do that.

"Leiko, remember the Millennium French Horn?" Amaya asked me.

"Of course I do! We just heard about it 30 seconds ago!" I rolled my eyes. _What a pain Amaya is._ At least with his dark blue eyes and medium brown hair, he was slightly attractive. Though that has nothing to do with him being a pain other than it makes him worth hanging out with. "What about it?"

"Your french horn is green, right?" Amaya pressed.

Well, this IS true, I do have a green french horn. I pressed my purple glasses closer to my light blue eyes and the bangs from my fiery orange air and laughed. "You're suggesting _I_ own the Millennium French Horn?"

"How many green french horns are out there? It's a huge possibility," my best friend retorted. For some reason, he was wearing a white t-shirt with a green french horn on the front and green pants made from cotton, while I was wearing a green t-shirt and jeans that were green, which isn't very usual.

_What's with all the green today?_ I wondered. I then sighed. "If it will set your mind at ease, Amaya, drop by at my house and we'll see what happens. By the way, where _did_ I find these jeans?" When there was no reply, I sighed again. "See you." Without waiting for a response, I walked to my next class.

* * *

**A few things were changed, like the teacher having a last name, what Amaya's pants were made of, the color of Leiko's jeans, and the point of view. This was originally in third person, but I felt like changing it to Leiko's point of view.  
Yes, pretty much everyone in this story has a japanese name. Even Mrs. Kimura has a japanese first AND last name. This is still America. I just wanted to give them japanese names.**


	2. You Have GOT to be Kidding Me

**Hello. Again. In response to review(s)  
1. Very glad you're happy this is up. And I remember your idea about that thing with the ancestors and the...thing. Really? That's nice. I hope Yumiko, Yoi, and Sumiko have the same luxury.  
Chapter dedication: This chapter is dedicated to my awesome cousin, LibitheWolf  
Disclaimer: If I owned Yu-Gi-Oh, it wouldn't exist.  
Claimer: I own these characters, however.  
Oh, and yes, I don't know why I'm acting different. It's because I can.

* * *

**I had passed it off like it was nothing earlier, but I honestly was curious. Do I really have the Millennium French Horn?

Also, what subject did Mrs. Kimura teach anyway?

For the rest of the day, I could hardly pay attention. I kept absently twirling my hair, fiddling with my glasses, and daydreaming. What? No, not about _Amaya_, my french horn! Geez!

Okay, and the fourth wall police. But that is it.

I don't even remember what else I learned. I was curious! My body just went on autopilot.

Finally, the school day was over. I walked out of the school to find Amaya waiting for me. (Author's note: STALKER!)

"When did you get here?" I asked.

"Never mind that, come on!" Amaya grabbed my wrist and, despite my protests, ran to my house, pulling me along with him. * **

"Amaya, you're going to rip my arm out of my socket!" I exclaimed. "Ow!" That was a tight corner right there.

"Really? That's nice," Amaya, keeping a firm hold, replied absentmindedly. I rolled my eyes and allowed Amaya to tow me to my house.

* * *

"Okay, we're here! Will you let go now?" I demanded.

Amaya blinked and noticed I was correct, as always. "Oh, sure." Amaya released his grip. "Let's get inside already, Leiko!"

"Oh, sure," I muttered, leading the way inside. I grabbed my french horn and started upstairs to my room with Amaya following me.

"What about your rabbit? We need a rabbit to test this," Amaya pointed out.

"He's upstairs, Amaya. Come on," I informed him, opening the door to my room. Inside, we both sat down on my bed.

"Hurry up!" Amaya hurried me.

"Sure." I sighed and began playing the french horn. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my rabbit's lavender eyes grow wide.

"...Any reason you're playing Poker Face?"

"Not really," I mumbled through the mouth piece. I moved the french horn's mouthpiece away from my mouth. "Pippin, do a barrel roll."

The brown rabbit in the cage in the corner of my room blinked his lavender eyes and did a barrel roll.

"Now do a back flip, Pippin," I commanded.

Pippin blinked and did a back flip.

Amaya and I exchanged a glance. His expression was his famous 'I-told-you-so' look, while mine was one of pure amazement.

"You have got to be kidding me," I moaned.

* * *

**Short chapters are short, but sometimes necessary.  
* Author's note: YANK!  
** Author's note: No, I am NOT shipping LeikoxAmaya. Seriously, he's YANKING/PULLING her. Using her wrist, not her hand. Just to clear things up for you.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh since three minutes ago, it belongs to the guy in Japan whom I don't feel like looking up, but he totally gets credit for that. Pippin is NOT my character, he belongs to LibitheWolf. Everyone else belongs to me.**

**Yay! Now to introduce everyone else! Sorta...  
**


	3. How She Found Me Out

**Okay, I'd had writer's block with this (which is most likely why I wasn't updating it), but LibitheWolf gave me an awesome plot idea earlier after I asked her for suggestions. So go thank her. RIGHT NOW. (I can't remember who's reading this anymore...ah well.)  
In case you're wondering, I finally got Leiko and Amaya last names like four weeks ago or something. Leiko is Leiko Sasaki and Amaya is Amaya Takahashi. Don't ask any questions, I'm bad at picking out last names. Especially when they're random common names that I have NO idea what they mean. Plus, I'm not awfully familiar with Japanese. ****Soooo...have fun with that. I'll stop talking now, said the red monster.**

**

* * *

**Mrs. Kimura grinned as she snuck into the Yoshida's house. After much tracking down, she'd learned that Sumiko Yoshida currently had the Millennium Baritone. Unfortunately, she was terribly misinformed in one department: what else is there. But that's a story for a different time, and for now let's go back to the plot.

As the story was saying, Mrs. Kimura sneaked through the house, looking for the Millennium Baritone. Finally, she found Sumiko's room. Quietly opening the door, she located the Baritone, grabbed it, and left. Finally, all those years of searching were beginning to pay off.

* * *

The next day, Amaya Takahashi and I walked into Mrs. Kimura's class. At this point, I was unaware of her new Instrument, so to me this felt like just another day in...whatever class Mrs. Kimura taught.

"Wow, Leiko, I can't believe you really have the Millennium French Horn!" Amaya yelled loudly.

"SHHH!" I hissed at him. "What if someone...that shouldn't know finds out?"

"Leiko, this is SCHOOL. Bad people don't exist at school," Amaya told me.

"Yeah, seems like you haven't run into the 80 or so bullies here," I replied sarcastically. "Seriously, Amaya, they're everywhere."

"Leiko Sasaki and Amaya Takahashi." Mrs. Kimura stood over us, grinning some kind of evil grin. "Talking in class, are we? Anything we can hear about?"

"Sure." Amaya shrugged.

"Amaya!" I whispered.

"Seriously, it's fine. Who cares if we're wondering why we all have Japanese names when we live in America?" Amaya asked loudly.

"Actually, my name is Bob," some kid named Bob said.

"And my name is Joe," some girl added.

"I thought is was Kay," another kid whispered.

"Shut up," 'Joe' whispered.*

"Does anyone here besides me and Leiko have a Japanese name then?" Amaya asked.

"Just me." Mrs. Kimura grinned at us. It looked kinda creepy and almost evil. "Now then, let's continue with our lesson."

* * *

Mrs. Kimura walked home after the school day. Opening the door, she turned to her left to see the Millennium Baritone leaning against the law. She walked over, picked it up, and began playing a random tune. Suddenly, a white light began to envelope her. When it left, she looked like any kid my age, but she hadn't turned into just anyone.

She had turned herself into Amaya Takahashi.

* * *

Ever since the Millennium French Horn instrument, Amaya and I had often walked home together. Amaya's home was closer than mine, so often we stopped in front of his house, said a quick goodbye, then he'd walk inside and I'd walk to my house farther down the road. So this day seemed normal, as earlier. Amaya and I stopped in front of his house, waved, and he walked inside. I just sighed and turned around to walk to my house.

But on this day, my journey was interrupted.

"Excuse me, are you Leiko Sasaki?" a voice asked.

I looked around and found a boy nearby. He looked around my age, with short black hair and dark green eyes.

"Yes...who are you?" I asked him.

"I'm Sumiko Yoshida." He introduced himself. "You see, something very precious to me was stolen recently. I was wondering if you knew of its whereabouts."

"...Exactly what is this 'precious' item?" I asked.

"It's a baritone," Sumiko told me. "Don't give me a look like that! It has special powers! You seem, it's green and-"

It could have been ANYTHING, but it just HAD to be THAT. "You're talking about the Millennium Baritone, correct?"

"Yes!" Sumiko looked relived I knew just what he was talking about. "I'm worried...not because it's mine and therefore I want it, but it's very powerful. It could be in the wrong hands."

"I'll...keep an eye out for it," I promised.

"Thanks." Just then, I noticed we were now walking in the direction of my house. "Oh, and keep your french horn safe too."

Huh? He knew? "Oh...sure, right."

"Looking for the Millennium Baritone, huh?" a voice asked. Sumiko and I turned around to see Amaya standing there...looking serious for once.

"Amaya?" I asked quietly. "Do you know where it is?"

"Sure," Amaya replied. "But it's no fun to just tell you. Why don't we play a little game?"

"A game?" I asked skeptically.

"A simple game of hopscotch,"Amaya assured me. "Whoever gets to the end first wins. If you win, I'll tell you where the Millennium Baritone is."

"So, what exactly am I wagering?" I demanded.

"Why, your Millennium French Horn, of course. Nothing else would make you more serious about winning."

He...did sort of have a point there. No matter what, I was bent on winning this, but the stakes just got too high to risk losing. "Is there any way we can just...get the information normally?"

"It's not like you to back out of something like this. I thought you liked gambling games," Amaya commented.

"Okay, fine, let's do this."

* * *

*** HAHA Referencing a story I'll NEVER publish! Okay, that was harsh, but seriously, I'm not publishing that. VERY likely.  
LibitheWolf, you know about the thing with Amaya and Leiko and the other people? Well, I forgot to tell you, Amaya's not just related to...'you' (to be discreet), he's also related to 'me'. Just to remind you.  
Like Leiko and Amaya? Then read 'And It's Only Freshman Year' by LibitheWolf. Sooner or later they might appear! Except Amaya's probably out of character, but for his role that's just fine.  
Card games will come later, and they won't be on motorcycles, unicycles, armadillos, or Antarctica. For now, we're just playing a...complicated game of hopscotch! This was longer than I predicted, so it gets a different chapter. And if you can't figure it out, 'Amaya' in the last part IS Mrs. Kimura.  
Mrs. Kimura does have a Japanese name. And is it just me, or does Amaya/Mrs. Kimura make Amaya seem out of character?  
**


	4. Hopscotch Plus Archery Equals LIES

**It's so cold and I have so much writer's block. WHY SO MUCH WRITER'S BLOCK? So, that's why I'm writing this. See, I already pretty much have this planned out. So I'm going to write this chapter.

* * *

**After "Amaya" and I finished drawing out our hopscotch course, "Amaya" began to explain the rules. Keep in mind that at this point I had no idea this Amaya was a fake, though I was suspicious, more of mind control than impersonation.

Actually, maybe- no, I'm not speaking of that again.

"Okay, the rules are simple." 'Amaya' showed me a die and two sets of bows and arrows. "We take turns shooting the target over there." Here 'he' pointed at a conveniently nearby target. "Outside ring is 1 point, next ring 3, next ring 6, bullseye 10 points. If you get five or more points you get to roll the die and hop forward that many spaces. First to the last space wins."

I gulped. The last space was a long ways away.

"Nervous? It's just a game," 'Amaya' pretended to comfort me.

"Yes, with everything at stake," I muttered, feeling my palms begin to sweat. 'Amaya' was right about one thing, I enjoyed playing gambling games, but I'd never actually gambled before. I did play a mean poker, but nothing had ever been at stake. No risks, no prizes. I was okay with that. This was the first time I'd actually gambled before, and it was enough for me to never gamble after this whole thing blew over. More than this hopscotch game, I mean.

"I'll start," 'Amaya' stated as 'he' drew back the arrow on his bow and let it fly. 'His' shot earned him 6 points. Grinning, 'Amaya' rolled the die. It landed on the ground showing a five. 'He' jumped five spaces and gestured for me to take my turn.

The fact that this included archery made this game really bad. I tried archery a couple of years ago and just couldn't get it to work. I didn't have the strength to pulled the arrow back. So I really wasn't thrilled.

Grabbing the bow, I set the arrow on the string and tried to pull it back. Eventually, it went back a little, and after I couldn't pull it anymore I released. The arrow didn't even make it to the target.

I had just lost the game.

'Amaya' seemed surprised I couldn't do archery, which surprised me. Amaya KNEW I'd never really gambled before, and Amaya KNEW that I couldn't do archery worth...anything. My suspicions were fired up.

At this point the game went on predictably. 'Amaya' went forward like a jackrabbit on a greasy grill in the middle of August...or something like that, while I managed to barely get a six ONCE and rolled a one. It's like the die was rigged, but whatever.

'Amaya' was nearly at the end when it started pouring. And this is where Mrs. Kimura's plan started falling apart.

Amaya Takahashi had apparently noticed me try to play this really odd version of hopscotch, because he came over and told me I should go inside and get out of the rain. I had to do a double take.

'Amaya' seemed really nervous that Amaya was here. Naturally, I was confused. And Amaya...didn't know what was going on.

"What's so confusing about getting out of the rain?" Amaya asked me.

"You're...down there...we're playing hopscotch...gambling..." I managed to mumble out these words.

"When did I get a clone?" 'Amaya' asked.

That's where I caught 'him'.

"Amaya..." I looked at Amaya. "Do you happen to know where the Millennium Baritone is?"

"...My favorite one of the bunch? I only wish..." Amaya told me.

"Remember when we went to the fair and that...odd thing...happened?" I inquired.

"I thought you were never speaking of that again," Amaya commented.

"Amaya." I turned to 'Amaya'. "Remember when we went to the fair?"

"We went to the fair?" 'Amaya asked. "I mean...yes, why?"

"Gotcha." I grinned.

"So what if I'm some kind of imposter?" 'Amaya' questioned me, not bothering to convince me 'he' was the real Amaya. "We have a game to finish."

"You might as well tell me who you are, or else."

"Or else WHAT?"

"Or else I'll get you for this, you mutt."

"Okay...I'll tell you where the Baritone is," 'Amaya' decided. Wait...I didn't ask 'him' THAT! Oh well. "Your-" Here 'he' muttered something I didn't catch. "-teacher has it. It's at her house. Okay? I'll go now." And with that, 'he' was off.

"That works," I admitted.

"Wait...what just happened?" Amaya asked me.

And then I told him from square one.

* * *

**Leiko and Amaya are now in And It's Only Freshman Year by LibitheWolf! Why am I telling you this again other than pointing out they have now appeared? I don't know. (And Chapter 9 can't be my favorite anymore since it's not blank...awww...it's still good, though. BLANK TEXT!)  
Sorry, hyperness.  
Anyway, I have two new story plans (WHAT'S WITH ME LATELY?), technically three, so I'll get cracking on adding those to my profile. They may not be added.  
Next chapter: The Quest to get the Millennium Baritone back!**


	5. Even Though I'm Secretly Single

**OK, I know I just updated this, but I'm in a huge Yu-Gi-Oh mood right now. Of course, cosplayed text messages and working on Twin Troubles helps, but whatever. Poor Bakura, he's been bleeped. (Don't ask.)  
Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh belongs to Mr. K. Takahashi. I cannot remember his first name for the life of me, but I remember his last name. Gasp...Amaya might be related to the creator of Yu-Gi-Oh! (Well, he's not) Oh, go bugger off, Bakura. I'm trying to create suspense. (And failing at it.) Don't make me bleep you like Ryou did. (Oh, yes, I've been bleeped.) Whatever.  
Claimer: I own my own characters and stuff.

* * *

**I went through a backpack, throwing away random papers and snacks I no longer needed. Cleaning my room is NOT a fun job, but someone had to do it. And at least I hadn't needed to sort through most of my clothes. My mom had stepped up to the plate on that.

I poked my head inside the backpack to see how far I was and immediately lifted my head and coughed. The thing was FILLED with granola bars, cereal bars, and popcorn from two years ago. Back when I needed to eat snacks in school. That stage of my life was gone, but threatening to come back. I sighed as the memories came back, suddenly interrupted with a text message from Amaya. I opened the text message.

_It's time. We're going to go now_, Amaya texted. _Ready?_

_Not really, but I can be_, I told him. Sending the text message, I grabbed a white hat I found recently and put it on. Making sure no one was watching, I went downstairs and out the door.

"There you are," Amaya commented. "I texted you half an hour ago asking if you were ready."

"I just sent a reply. I just got the MESSAGE," I responded.

"Stupid delay," Amaya muttered as he turned on his phone and got my reply. Shrugging, he turned his phone back off. "Where's Sumiko?"

"Here!" Sumiko announced, poking his head out from behind a tree.

"Then get over here. It's not like we're being watched or anything," I told him.

Grinning and blushing, Sumiko came out from behind the tree and walked over to us. "So we're getting the Baritone back, right?"

"Of course," I told him. "Amaya, did you figure out where Mrs. Fujita lives?"

"I figured out where all of our teachers live, actually. I figured we could look in all their houses," Amaya told me.

"Great." I rubbed my hands together like some kind of villain. Mainly because it was cold at the time. "Let's get started, shall we?"

* * *

"Nothing here, either." Amaya commented. Darn. We'd already searched Mrs. Fujita's house, as well as my english teacher's house and my science teacher's house, and apparently my math teacher had nothing.

"Let's try Mrs. Kimura. She seems to be the most likely person," I suggested.

"She does?" Sumiko and Amaya asked.

"Of course. She taught us about the Millennium Instruments, didn't she?" I pointed out.

"Okay, true. Well, her house is over there." Amaya pointed in a random direction.*

"Let's go then!" Sumiko shouted and ran in that direction.

"Wait! You don't know what house it is!" Amaya yelled and went after him.

I would have just followed them, but I felt the need to say something. "I brought my dinosaur that eats force field dogs!"**

* * *

After awhile we arrived at Mrs. Kimura's house.

"Well, I guess we're here," Amaya announced.

"No dip, Sherlock!" I snapped, pointing at a sign that said 'Mrs. Kimura's house'.

"What's up with you?" Sumiko asked. "Suddenly you're more...tense."

"You would not believe what I have been through tonight," I told him.**

"It's the middle of the day," Sumiko pointed out.

"Just...let's just get the thing, okay? I don't feel good," I hurried them.

"Yeah..." Amaya pulled Sumiko over to a window. "See your Baritone?"

"Right there!" Sumiko pointed at a black lump next to a wall.

"Let's get it," I said.

Sumiko, Amaya and I went through the doorway. For some magical, unexplained reason, the door was unlocked and no one was inside. That's because Mrs. Kimura forgot to lock the door behind her as she went to get groceries at the grocery store. Sumiko ran over to the black lump and opened it.

"IT'S...a drum?" Sumiko asked.

"There's another black lump shaped thing over there," Amaya told him, pointing at another black lump shaped thing.

Sumiko rushed over to the other black lump and opened it. "I FOUND IT!"

"Very nice," I told him. "Well, I need to go now, so bye!"

"Bye!" Amaya called as I ran out the doorway.

"Now what?" Sumiko asked when I was out of earshot.

"HONEY I'M HOOOOME! Except I'm secretly single...oh what the heck. I'm home, aren't I?" Mrs. Kimura asked as she arrived at her house.

"...Crap..." Amaya whispered.

* * *

***At this point I left to go see Toy Story 3. When I got home I was in a VERY bad mood. Oh, don't get me wrong, I loved the movie, but I SLIPPED UP. I didn't want to continue this in a bad mood but deviantart managed to distract me quite a bit. Special thanks goes to DeviantArt for being a great mood lifter.  
**Toy Story 3 quotes belong to the makers of Toy Story 3.  
I've been kinda busy...and now I'm working on Twin Troubles! By the way pretty much no new stories will be started until I finish a few I already have up. LibitheWolf has been privileged enough to get a sneak peek. But very small. VERY VERY small.  
So...what's next? I'll figure that out later. Hey look, it's 11:11! **


	6. Exercise is EVIL!

**And now it's 10:22! I'm going to pretend there's more than 2 people out there, because there are. How do I know? Story Traffic says in July we had a visitor from Turkey. Make that two. I would now like to take this opportunity to say hi to Turkey. And Canada. And the United States. And the UK. And last but not least, HEY AUSTRALIA! Okay, I'm good.  
So...I'm sure I had a plan for this thing. Why? I usually have a plan for something. However, this one certainly disappeared. So...I left a cliffhanger. With Mrs. Kimura. I think. Oh yes, now I remember. Time for some improvised writing!  
Disclaim- YOU KNOW WHAT THAT IS!I OWN MY CHARACTERS EVERYONE ELSE BELONGS TO...THAT OTHER GUY!

* * *

**I stopped short when I heard her voice. Two seconds later, I was face to face with Mrs. Kimura, two feet from her house. Thankfully, her house was three and a half feet away from the road. I was able to come up with a quick excuse as she began to question me.

"Leiko Sasaki?" Mrs. Kimura asked as she remembered my name. "What are you doing at my house?"

"I'm not _at_ your house," I pointed out.

"Two feet away is close enough to me," Mrs. Kimura told me.

"What about three feet away? Is everyone who drives by trespassing onto your territory?" I challenged her.

Mrs. Kimura sighed. "Fine, what are you doing _near my house_?"

"Oh, I'm just taking a walk." She gave me a suspicious look, so I assumed she remembered my address too. I lived nowhere near here. "A really long walk. I was just about to turn around and go home, so good day, Mrs. Kimura." I turn around and start to walk away.

"I really doubt you have that much stamina. You can't walk 6 miles at once, can you? It's 12 miles long trip."

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Amaya and Sumiko prepared to leave once Mrs. Kimura was fully distracted. I was currently serving as this distraction and decided to continue to do so. "Oh, no, I've only walked a few miles. I started from the pizza shop 4 miles away."

"I doubt you can even walk that much."

"I've been walking very slowly," I added. "I was just catching my breath now as you showed up."

Mrs. Kimura didn't seem to buy it, but she decided to at least act like she did. "Very well." She briefly turned away. Sumiko took the opportunity to make a break for it. He's a fast runner, so he wasn't caught. "As punishment for being so unfortunate as to be _catching your breath_ as I just happen to show up, you must do 30 jumping jacks."

"30?" I asked. Then I realized what else she said. "_Jumping jacks_?"

"Yes. 30. Jumping jacks. Now, please," Mrs. Kimura commanded.

I immediately started. I hate jumping jacks, and I just wanted to get this over with, distraction or no distraction. As I reach 5 she shakes her head sadly. "No, no, these pathetic little attempts will not do. 40 Sit-ups."

"Sit-ups?" I almost wanted to scream. I had enough stamina to walk 2 miles and run 0.9 miles without stopping at the time, but these stupid gym exercises were going to be the death of me. They still are.

"I'm tired of your stalling," Mrs. Kimura practically growled at me. The tone of her voice almost makes me want to whimper like a small puppy, but I still have my pride. So I dropped down and I gave her 40 sit-ups.

Except for the part where she stopped me at 10.

"You're doing crunches. I asked for SIT-UPS!"

"I'm not doing crunches!" I almost yelled at her. "I've always done sit-ups like that!"

"I WANT REAL SIT-UPS!"

I changed my sit-up form, and managed to please her with the result. Finishing with 40, I sat up, gasping for breath. "Am I done?"

"Write a report on the history of hats and we're even," Mrs. Kimura replied.

I didn't bother arguing with her. "Yes, ma'am," I muttered and ran away from her as fast as my legs would carry me. I just hoped that Amaya had escaped safely. He knew everything about the history of random things, and I hoped that included hats.

* * *

Mrs. Kimura watched me run away with a small smile in her face. "The energy of the youth," she commented. She let out a childish giggle before regaining her composure. Her composure full of evil. All the energy this encounter gave her almost high-fived her face, or so I've heard. Or maybe that's the wrong villain. "Run while you can, Leiko Sasaki and Amaya Takahashi. This is one battle you don't want to miss. And I just have the thing for it."

Before she went to get this thing for the 'battle', Mrs. Kimura checked inside her house for a moment. "As I predicted, they took the fake Baritone." She was clearly pleased with the result. "Replicas never work anymore, so I assumed they wouldn't take the bait. They were more hurried than I thought." Grabbing the REAL Millennium Baritone, which was hiding under her mattress, she disguised herself as an old lady.

In this disguise, she walked out to the local grocery store. Here she bought three lemons, a few onions, and coffee. Because the local grocery store was stupid enough to have ready-made coffee for random people in disguise to carry out their evil deeds. Then, back at home, she laid the lemons on the table next to the onions and, drinking her coffee, she began to wait. It's a good thing she's a patient waiter, because this was going to be one long wait.

* * *

**Ah yes, to disclaim my references that I made. I do not own iCarly. I don't own Spongebob. And I don't own the Mario and Luigi RPG series. If I did own any of these, they would be horrible and terrible. Well, Spongebob is now, but I still don't own it.  
The iCarly reference is probably the most obvious reference. The Pokemon reference leans more towards referencing something I've read more than anything else, but this was based on something in Pokemon, so we're all set there.  
I was planning on having Leiko do something with a random bunny that showed up, wielding her might French Horn, but then I realized she probably didn't keep it around. It's not the Millennium Rod, and therefore cannot...nevermind. You'll figure it out.  
HELLO PEOPLE OF MARS! AND GOODBYE PLUTO! (Love ya, Pluto! You're a planet to me!)**


	7. Lemonade with a Side of Jealousy

**Hello

* * *

**That morning, I noticed a package on the table for me. Which is weird, because I never even got mail most of the time. Then again, the not-so-ordinary had some kind of magnetic attraction to me around this time. So I decided not to question it and open the package.

Inside the package were two rotten lemons. Yes, I mean fruit. What else would- Oh, not that. This is fruit.

At this point I was very weirded out. In fact, I was so creeped out that when I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket for once, I jumped. Taking out my phone, I saw I was getting a call from Amaya, so I answered. "Hey."

"OH MY GOODNESS! YOU WILL NEVER BELIEVE WHAT I GOT IN THE MAIL! LEIKO, IT'S REALLY WEIRD!" Amaya yelled something to that effect. He also yelled it really quickly, making it hard to tell exactly what he said, but unfortunately it won't stay like that as one long word.

I wordlessly screamed at him to shut him up. "Amaya. Slow down. Become calm."

"Right." Amaya took a deep breath. "Leiko, you'll never believe what happened to me today. It's the creepiest thing in the world."

"What can be creepier than this?" I muttered.

"Hmm?"

"Nevermind, tell me what happened."

"This morning I found a package for me, so I opened it, and I found a ROTTEN LEMON inside. I kid you not, a freaking ROTTEN LEMON!"

"You are talking about fruit, right?" I asked cautiously.

"Yes, why?"

"No reason. Anyway, yes, I know what you're talking about. I got two rotten lemons in the mail."

"Are YOU talking about fruit?" Amaya retorted.

"Yes I am, why do you ask?" I inquired.

"You asked me."

I facepalmed myself. "Do you know who sent them?"

"The return address resembles Mrs. Kimura's. How about you?"

"Same here," I confirmed as I checked the return address on my own package.

"Then we can ask. The least she can do is refuse to explain."

"That's not a bad idea."

* * *

At school later that day...

So when we got to Mrs. Kimura's class at school, we decided to ask. Neither of us was keen on starting the subject, so we had an argument on the way to class.

"You ask first!" Amaya insisted.

"No, you ask first!" I retorted.

"I'm not comfortable with asking."

"Yes, well, asking is a real _peach_ for me, too."

"Huh?"

"Nevermind. I'll just ask," I decided as we walked inside the classroom. I needed to remember not to use sarcasm on Amaya, he tended not to get it.

"Good morning!" Ms. Kimura greeted us cheerily. Too cheerily. In fact, she never said good morning. SOMETHING was up here.

"Umm...good morning, Mrs. Kimura." I random paused to clear my throat here, since it felt like something was stuck in there. "We wanted to ask you something."

"Ask away," Mrs. Kimura encouraged us. The encouragement did it's job well. I felt a teensy bit less nervous about asking.

"Well, we're wondering why you mailed us rotten lemons."

"You are talking about the fruit?" Mrs. Kimura asked.

"YEAH. Rotten yellow fruit shaped like an oval with two points," I explained clearly.

"I know what a lemon is," Mrs. Kimura muttered. Then her voice became normal again. "Are they now rotten? I must apologize, they must have rotted when I mailed them to you."

"Why'd you send them in the first place?" Amaya spoke up.

Mrs. Kimura stared at him for a moment as if she just realized he was there before continuing. "I wanted to educate you two in a life lesson."

"Either you're telling us that we should make lemonade with lemons, or fruit is a very healthy snack that we should always eat," I commented. "And I'm sure I know which one it is."

"Yup. Life just gave you lemons. Do what you want with them, but I hope you do make lemonade." Something about the way she said this was...creepy. "Okay then, sit down. It's time for today's lesson, and I'm already behind schedule."

Amaya and I sat down. "Who are you, the White Rabbit?" I mumbled under my breath.

* * *

After school ended, Amaya and I ended up running into Sumiko Yoshida.

Literally.

"Hi," was all I said as I grabbed the backpack that had slipped off of my shoulder.

"Hi." Sumiko grinned at Amaya and I. "I want to thank you guys for helping me get back my Millennium Baritone."

"You're welcome," Amaya replied.

"My siblings do too, actually." Sumiko rocked back and forth on his feet nervously. "They were wondering if you could come over and meet them."

"Of course." "Of course not!" Amaya and I responded at the same time. I was leaning towards not doing this, while my wonderful friend was pushing for meeting complete strangers. (They weren't complete strangers! We knew their sibling!) Oh, for the love of- AMAYA, I AM THE ONE TELLING THIS STORY!

Apologies.

Amaya rolled his eyes. "Come on, Leiko. We helped the kid get back his most precious belonging, and in return he wants us to meet his family. The least we can do is go and see them, even if only for a few minutes."

"They're complete strangers!" I protested. Amaya rolled his eyes at this. "Amaya, for all we know, this kid's been adopted and he's taking us to meet murderers!"

"I wasn't adopted," Sumiko pointed out. "And we aren't murderers."

"Leiko," Amaya said in a warning tone. His eyes blazed out confidence. We both knew that I had backed myself into a corner of guilt, and I had to go through with this now.

"Fine." I managed a smile. Fake, but still a smile. "What's the worst that could happen anyway?"

* * *

Por lo tanto, seguimos Sumiko a su casa. El viaje no vale la pena mencionar y que también podría olvidar que esta historia ha sucedido siempre. Así que eso es el fin! ¡Adiós!

Wait a minute...wrong language. Sorry, too much Spanish has gone to my head.

So, we followed Sumiko to his house. The trip there isn't worth mentioning other than Amaya kept grinnning at me until I jabbed him in the stomach. Really hard. For the rest of the trip his face was full of pain.

Sumiko opened the door. "Here we are."

It was a decent house. I don't remember much about how it looks, because I don't like to judge people based on what their house looks like. Unless it's myself. I really only remember Sumiko's brother and sister. And our conversation.

A boy and a girl glanced at us from a nearby couch. The girl looked about our age, with short blonde hair and brown eyes. Her skin was extremely tan and she seemed to have an athletic build. (I later learned that she was on the softball team.)

As for the boy...he had black hair and light green eyes. His skin was much paler than his sister's, and he wasn't athletic, only really skinny. He seemed a little older than the girl, but he was shorter.

"That's my brother and my sister," Sumiko introduced them. "My sister is Tokiwa, and next to her is Yumiko."

I smiled shyly at Yumiko as the two stood up. Yumiko grinned back at me.

"We're really grateful that you got the Baritone back for us," Tokiwa said. "It's extremely important to us." She quickly hugged us both.

"You have a Millennium Instrument as well, don't you?" Yumiko asked me.

"Y-yes," I stammered.

"And I assume you both know about the other Millennium Instruments," Yumiko continued.

"Yeah," Amaya replied, preventing me from saying anything else. "Why?"

"We also own the Millennium Flute and Clarinet," Tokiwa told us, gesturing to a corner. A green flute and a green clarinet sat there.

"Wow. How'd you get all three?" I asked, amazed.

Sumiko, Yumiko, and Tokiwa all exchanged before replying in unison, "We dunno."

"We always remember having them," Sumiko commented with a shrug. "We didn't even know they were special until about four years ago."

"That's great," Amaya commented. "Anyway, nice to meet you two. Leiko, we should probably head back, right?"

"Huh? Oh, yes, we should," I responded. "Bye!"

"Bye!" Tokiwa shouted. "Thanks again!"

After we left the house, Amaya glanced at me. "Well, you certainly were acting different than usual."

"Like I said, I didn't want to go."

"By the way, why don't you hug me like that? I wouldn't mind a hug once in awhile," Amaya teased. I replied with a swift kick in the knee. "You know, when you kick someone, it tends to hurt."

"That's what I intended," I replied.

* * *

**Well, isn't that awfully convenient? And is it just me, or does Amaya seem a bit jealous? (Insert grin here)  
Goodbye.**


	8. I'm too Pumped for a Chapter Title

**O hi dead fanbase! **  
**I started typing up the new chapter, and I started writing the wrong chapter. So I copied the part that goes in this chapter here and started over again. I'll keep parts of it for next chapter, but if it no longer fits, it no longer fits.  
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! IT WORKS! IT WORKS!**

* * *

After that incident, life went on as normal. For awhile, at least. Activities began picking up, and Amaya and I found ourselves really busy. We worked hard in the morning so we could work hard in the afternoon so we could sleep in the evening so we could work hard the next morning until we found ourselves sleeping in class once in awhile. This was all normal. We were busy, and soon began to forget about our other problems.

Until the second half of the year started.

It began simply at first. Amaya had been taking a half year course for the first half of the year, and I assumed he now had an extra study hall, which made me slightly envious.

But boy, was I wrong.

How could I have thought that? I had known Amaya for years, and I should've known better. Amaya hates study halls. Sure, he hates regular classes too, but at least in regular classes something was usually going on. In study halls, everyone was quiet. No one said a word. Nothing but work. Amaya hated silence as much as I enjoyed it. He'd take anything to get out of a study hall.

But that's a story for later on. Before the story goes any farther, it needs to take a pit stop on a study hall.

Oh, I KNOW what you're thinking. Another pointless attempt at character development and another failed attempt to try to interest you? No.

No matter how much he tries, Amaya ALWAYS has one study hall every six days of school. This is due to Science Lab being only twice every six days. So on this one day Amaya has study hall, and I have the misfortune of having a study hall at the same time and day as him. To keep him from complaining all the time, I agreed to sign up to go to the library with him on this study hall so that he could go to a place he could talk with someone to talk to.*

It was on one of these days that I walked into the library for study hall, as I usually did. I didn't suspect anything unusual about this day, and for days afterward I didn't think this day had any impact on recent events. But I should have known better.

And then everyone died.

Just kidding, let's move on.

So I walked into the study hall and spotted Amaya sitting at a table in the back. As I always did, I walked over to this table and I sat down, ready to have another pointless conversation.

"Hey, Leiko! Look what I've got!" Amaya told me as he showed me something surrounded with some very colorful plastic.

"Colorful plastic?" I guessed.

"Nope!"

Pointless...conversation...ummm...

...What?

Amaya opened the colorful...thing and pulled out some trading cards. "Trading cards!"

"Trading cards?" I asked as I stared at the trading cards. They looked interesting, I gave them that. But what was so special about them?

"Yup! You're good at guessing!" I decided to ignore that burst of stupidity. "It's for this game called Yu-Gi-Oh!"

"What the heck does that mean?" I demanded. Man, sometimes I hate Japan and it's different language.

The same thing can be said for my opinion on France. I will tell you that Japan's language annoys me.

Amaya shrugged. "Probably nothing important. Something to do with games. Look at these cards I have!"

Amaya then showed me the cards he'd found inside the colorful plastic that I later learned was called a 'booster pack'. He had cards called "Hane-Hane", "Man-Eater Bug", "Change of Heart", "Fearful Earthbound", "Headless Knight", "Necro Jar", and "Gernia".**

This was one of the stupidest things I'd ever heard of at the time.

"This card game," I began, "is one of the stupidest things I've ever heard of."

"This card game is awesome," Amaya countered.

"This card game is for children!" I retorted.

"If there's a card called Headless Knight, how child-friendly is this game?" Amaya asked me.

"Point taken," I muttered.

"Don't fret," Amaya told me. "I got you some cards too!" He handed me another one of these so-called booster packs.

Oh joy.

I opened the thing and inside I found seven cards, just like Amaya had. The cards I had, however, were "Pot of Greed", "Mammoth Graveyard", "Magic Cylinder", "Queen's Knight", "4-starred Ladybug of Doom", "Mystical Elf", and "Sangan".**

I had to laugh.

"Four..." I spoke inbetween laughs. "...Starred...Ladybug..." Here was a really long pause while I kept laughing. "...Of...DOOM? That is the most HILARIOUS thing I've EVER heard of!"

"Shhhh!" The librarian shushed me.

I managed to stop laughing. "Seriously. Ladybugs and doom don't go in the same sentence without the word 'not' somewhere in there.

Amaya poined at a ladybug crawling on the table. "I'm not sure, but I bet this ladybug has some sort of intention to bring doom to us all."

"Shut it," I told him.

"Come on, Leiko," Amaya said to me. "At least give this game a chance."

"A chance at what? Failure?"

"A chance to grow on you. This is a great game if you let it."

"Oh, fine. I'll try. But don't expect anything-"

"Yay!"

"...to change," I finished.

* * *

***Ironic much? At my school, you can't talk in regular study hall without permission, but in the library, if you're not in the study area, you can talk as much as you want.  
**Want to try to figure out something odd in the end? Research into who has most of these cards!**

**How's THAT for not-so-filler? I edited some of what I'd written to make the change easier. Now I hope you're happy. This was a fun chapter to write, but a LOT of research was put into it.  
**


	9. And So it Goes On

**I'MBACKI'MBACKI'MBACKI'MBACKI'MBACK-  
You get the idea.  
So in this chapter, the plot moves forward more! And a request that requires a review OR a pm (or other form of communication) from YOU!**

**...I need two decks. Like full decks. Just the card names are fine. One is based around Dark Magician Girl, and the other around Blue Eyes White Dragon. I can look into it myself if I need to, but I'd appreciate it if anyone else has any ideas.**

* * *

Ugh.

There's no worse thing than sitting in a locked basement, feeling like absolute crap, and smelling stenches worse than anyone could possibly describe.

And how would I happen to know that?

Amaya and I sat in a locked basement. We felt like absolute crap. And in the basement, stenches that no one could possibly describe were taunting us with their evil.

And the Millennium Saxophone and the Millennium Tuba were the ones to thank for that. But before I get ahead of myself, let's back up a little bit...

* * *

As I mentioned before, Amaya hated study halls. Sure, he hates regular classes too, but at least in regular classes something was usually going on. In study halls, everyone was quiet. No one said a word. Nothing but work. Amaya hated silence as much as I enjoyed it. He'd take anything to get out of a study hall.

So of course, he signed up for a different class to get out of study hall. However, he couldn't find any half year courses he couldn't take, so he signed up for a full year course he'd never taken. Since it was a full year course, he signed up for a class that he knew wouldn't make much difference, because there wasn't any material already covered that he couldn't learn now. A class full of noise, excitement, a class that suited him well.

Lunch? An extra lunch? Why would he do that? I don't think that's even possible. No, I was talking about the other class that fits that description.

Band.

The people working in the school office, bless them, didn't really care. They approved the class, and next thing I know, I'm walking to band class and Amaya wouldn't stop following me.

Being the first day of the new schedules and given the fact that Amaya wanted to keep it a secret so he could surprise me, why I don't know, I had no clue we now had another class together. So I listened to his nonstop chatter, waiting for him to go away, and after a couple of minutes I got fed up with him.

"Amaya," I said, trying to sound much more patient than I felt. "Shouldn't you be going to your next class?"

"I am," he told me.

"Study hall," I replied, pointing down the other direction, "is THAT way, Amaya."

"Yup." Amaya smiled. "Leiko, you should know by now that I'll take any class to get out of study hall, right?"

I'd forgotten at the time, but I just nodded. "Then what class are you going to?"

"You'll see," Amaya told me. "You'll see."

So he kept following me. Only now, he wasn't saying a word. For once. I would've been happier about it, but Amaya not talking? Honestly, just the thought of that is creepy.

We continued walking down the hall. Amaya kept following me, and random questions began jumping into my head. Then I walked into band class, and Amaya followed me inside.

And then I decided something. Something that made life much easier.

Worse things could be happening, much worse things. So then, it was best not to dwell on it. Honestly, it wasn't really a bad thing. It was actually kind of a good thing, since I didn't have any friends in band before that day...

Part of my routine during school was that during band class, I kept my homework inside my band locker. What's the point of stuffing everything under my chair if it fit somewhere out of the way? So that's what I did.

Until that day. Band was the last class of the day, so the homework I kept in my locker was due the next day. And that day, I learned something new.

You can't trust all your classmates, especially in a classroom with more than 40 people.

After band class ended, I walked over to my band locker and slid the 'lock' to open it. I went to reach for my homework, as I usually did.

But all I felt was empty air. Reaching around in the locker, my hand found a note sitting on the bottom, innocently waiting for me to find it. I took out the note, shoved my French Horn into my locker, shut the locker, and read the note.

"What's that?" Amaya asked, causing me to slightly jump. I hadn't noticed he was there.

"A note," I told him. "Telling me that my homework's been stolen. And if I don't want anything else stolen, I need to meet someone in the parking lot in five minutes."

* * *

**And I've figured out where I might have gotten the idea of where this layout of a sideplot came from. CURSE YOU FAIRLY ODD PARENTS!**

**So, this chapter looks a lot shorter when it's not on DA. I'm SO glad I figured out the solution. TEMPORARY solution. This story can never officially be finished. **

**CLIFFHANGER! HA!**


	10. Happy Belated April Fools!

**So, chapter 10 has come! **

* * *

So, my homework had been stolen, and the ones who stole it wanted to meet me in the parking lot.

Alright, then.

I needed my homework, but I needed to leave even more. I had some errands to run, and I had to take the bus.

So I said goodbye to Amaya, and I left. I got on the bus that'd take me to the store, and I sat down next to someone I didn't recognize.

"Hello!" the girl said. "My name's Mika!"

"Hey, I'm Leiko," I told her, not too anxious for conversation.

Apparently, she was.

"So, I've never seen you before," Mika told me. "Did you just move to the area?"

"No," I replied. "I just need to go to a store and get some groceries."

"Oh." Mika blushed. "I'm really sorry, I just assumed-"

I shook my head. "It's fine. I'll just warn you, it's not always best to assume."

Mika smiled. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," I replied.

After that, we got along fine. Sure, she was more of the preppy, cheerleader type, and you wouldn't catch me touching a skirt or a dress with a 20 foot pole, but you know what they say, opposites attract. After all, if I can be friends with Amaya, surely I can be friends with this girl too, when both are nothing like me.

We chatted for awhile. We both had a long wait before we'd get off, and as it turned out she had to go to the store too. So we talked about this, that and the other thing.

It was great.

Then we got off the bus.

As we got off the bus, Mika seemed to recognize someone that was walking by the store. My first guess, which was correct, was that they were related, because other than the fact that they were opposite genders, they looked exactly the same. Anyway, Mika ran over to him, and he didn't seem surprised to see her at all.

"Hey, Yoi!" Mika greeted him.

"Hi, Mika!" the guy, whom I assumed was Yoi, said to her.

"Yoi, this is my new friend, Leiko!" Mika introduced me and Yoi to each other. "Leiko, this is my twin brother, Yoi."

"Hi, Yoi." I greeted him. I'm not one to give enthusiastic greetings, but hey, it's my personality.

"...Leiko? Would your last name happen to be Sasaki?" Yoi asked.

"Yes?" It sort of came out as a question, because it was the most random thing I'd been asked in awhile.

"Here. I found this." Yoi handed me something very familiar.

Something that I thought I'd lost forever.

The folder I kept my homework in, homework included.

I took the folder, grinning. "Thanks! I'd been wondering where this was."

Yoi shrugged. "No problem. I'm glad you have it back."

And thus started a great friendship.

* * *

**Alright, I'll admit it. This isn't the real chapter 10. I started typing this as an April Fool's Joke, but didn't think of it until like 8 at night anyway.  
The April Fools Joke? Well, there's a link that's on my profile that's been split in half! The link is actually two links! Can you find it?**

**As you'll find out, Mika and Yoi are nothing like this. I probably completely reversed their personalities. They'll get introduced in the real chapter 10. **


	11. Chapter 10

**Okay.  
I'll admit it. I need to say it at least once.  
OOOOOOOOO HAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIII!**

* * *

And so we went to the parking lot.

There were a lot of lines...and there were a lot of cars.

And there were no people.

"Come on!" I muttered impatiently. "I need to catch the bus!"

"But we don't ride the bus," Amaya pointed out. "We usually walk."

"Well maybe SOMEONE has errands to run, and that SOMEONE requires use of the bus for said errands!" I snapped.

Amaya flinched. Looking back, I probably shouldn't have snapped, but I was extremely irritated. I had places to go and things to do, and I didn't have time to wait for someone who wasn't there.

Even if they had my homework.

I didn't have to wait long, though. Within five minutes, two people I'd never seen before showed up.

In fact, I never would have thought they were the ones we were waiting for. If I hadn't seen them holding a folder. And not just any folder, mind you.

The very same folder I kept my homework in.

I'd recognize it anywhere. It used to be a plain yellow folder. But, you see, folder's tend to be made out of material easy to draw on, and...long story short, I'd decorated it to look unique.

As for the two people I'd never seen before, they looked very similar. Later I learned they were twins. And seniors. They both had blonde hair, blue eyes, and the same smirk on their faces.

The only way one could tell them apart was that one was a guy and that one was a girl.

"Well, Yoi, would these two happen to be who we're looking for?" the girl asked.

"Yes, indeed," the boy, whom I assumed was named Yoi, agreed. "I was only expecting the girl to show up, but plans don't always work the way you think they would."

"She doesn't have what we want with her, does she?" the girl asked.

"You are quite correct, Mika," Yoi agreed.

"What do you want?" I asked, extremely confused. "Your note never said you wanted anything."

Mika glared at Yoi. "You said that you told her, Yoi."

Yoi shrugged. "Well, I thought I did."

"What do you want in exchange for my homework?" I demanded.

Yoi stared at me. "You look rather narked."

"Narked?" I asked. "What the heck does that mean?"

"That you are in a bad mood," Mika told me. "But that is not important. What is important, however, is that we want your french horn in exchange for your homework."

My french horn?

They're kidding me...right?

"You're kidding me, aren't you?" I asked.

"Oh, no, we are not joking," Mika assured me. "We know of your french horn's...shall we say, special properties. In exchange for your homework, we would like your special french horn."

"I'm not giving my french horn to you," I told them. "Now give me back my homework."

"She's not cooperating," Yoi noticed.

"This certainly is not the bees knees," Mika commented. "Shall we use force?"

"We shall," Yoi agreed.

"Then it is your move," Mika told Yoi.

Yoi then, out of nowhere, pulled out a huge, green instrument. An instrument that few people felt the desire to master.

"The Millennium Tuba...?" Amaya asked.

Mika smirked as Yoi began to blow out a tune.

"Ugh..." I moaned. "I feel like crap."

"Welcome to the club," Amaya muttered.

Mika continued to smirk, and, feeling like crap, that smirk became, in that moment, the one thing I hated the most. "Don't you know the Tuba's powers? We've given you influenza."

Influenza.

The flu.

Oh. My. G-

I fell down on my knees, moaning. "I'm still not giving in to your demands."

"Very well," Mika sighed. "Well, we hated to do this, but now we have been forced to kidnap you."

"Kidnap?" Amaya asked.

"We are under orders to kidnap you if you choose not to comply," Yoi explained.

* * *

And so they kidnapped us.

And that is how we got in this situation.

Sitting in a basement, feeling like absolute crap, and smelling stenches worse than anyone could possibly describe.

The stench was merely the Millennium Saxophone doing its duty. I guess Mika and Yoi hoped that the combined effect of the horrible stenchand getting the flu would make us give in to their demands.

But we weren't planning on giving in.

Instead, we planned our escape.

* * *

The plan? It was simple. Wait for the middle of the night, break the window, and sneak out.

The hardest part would be breaking the window. It wasn't how to break the window. I always kept a hard rock in my pocket for emergencies. It was simply a matter of breaking the window. With Amaya and I both, well, sick, we had a fraction of our usual strength, and that worried me. With our current strength, I wasn't sure if we'd be able to actually break the window.

Well, I shouldn't have been worried.

The problem with my plan was that the basement didn't actually have a window, it had a door. I guess our sick minds hadn't grasped the concept yet, but when we found this out, we were simply dumbfounded.

Thankfully, this didn't keep us for long. Amaya had a paper clip in his pocket, and being the kind of guy he was, he knew how to pick locks.

Since it was the middle of the night, Amaya picked the lock, and we left the basement, safe.

But not for long.

* * *

**So, yes, this is the real chapter 10. Quite longer than the April Fools thing, isn't it? I tried to stretch that out, but...well, when you have farther plot to follow, it's easier to add to something to make it longer.**

**Mika and Yoi are much different, aren't they? In fact, I'd say they're pretty much the opposite! Mika turned from the preppy, bubbly girl into the evil mastermind, and Yoi...well, he's evil. **


	12. Sumiko, Stop Acting like Princess Peach!

**If anyone's wondering...:  
1: I don't own YuGiOh, but I own pretty much everything else in this story.  
2: 'Bees Knees' is British for 'fabulous'. So yes, Mika said "This certainly isn't fabulous".  
3: Mika and Yoi are indeed British. Why? Recently I'm slightly obsessed with Britishness. Don't ask why, I'm pretty sure it's a random thing. Ah, well, I hate tea.**

* * *

"_We are under orders to kidnap you if you choose not to comply."_

For four days, this statement ran through my head.

For four days, I was stuck in bed with the flu. I barely had the energy to move.

For four days, I analyzed this statement over and over.

I definitely got the 'Kidnap you if you choose not to comply' part of the statement. It was the 'We are under orders' part that I overanalyzed.

_'We are under orders to kidnap you if you choose not to comply.'_

* * *

After I got over the flu, my brain became much clearer. It was easier to come up with a conclusion to those words' meaning.

In fact, what I wasn't sure of after four days when sick, I was extremely sure of within two minutes of being healthy.

"We are under orders" meant two things. First of all, obviously Mika and Yoi were working for somebody else. Otherwise, they were taking orders from themselves, and they wouldn't order themselves to do something they'd hate to do. The second thing this meant was that they were probably working for Mrs. Kimura.

If that was true...then life was about to get about 10 times worse.

* * *

After the four days Amaya and I had the flu were up, we went back to school. It did help that we had the flu over the weekend, but not all that much.

I told Amaya about my theory, and he agreed with me that they were probably working for Mrs. Kimura. It just made sense, so we stuck with the theory.

Of course, that didn't make walking into Mrs. Kimura's class any easier.

Amaya and I walked into Mrs. Kimura's room, both of us feeling really nervous that something bad would come out of all of this. Amaya looked as nervous as I felt, but we couldn't avoid it forever, so we went inside and sat down.

Mrs. Kimura smiled as we came in. Every time I saw that smile, it looked more and more fake to me. "So you're back! We heard you had the flu."

_Who told you?_ I wondered, but didn't say anything.

"So you two are feeling better, I assume?" Mrs. Kimura asked.

We nodded.

"Good. I assigned an essay while you two were out. It's due tomorrow, and I'm not giving you any extra time to work on it, but I'm sure you'll do just fine," Mrs. Kimura told us, handing us sheets of paper that told us what the essay was on.

When Mrs. Kimura walked away from us, I let out a sigh in relief. Maybe she was working against us, maybe she had two people working for her, but she wasn't going to confront us.

Not now.

I don't remember much else from that class. Not that that's unusual, I never pay attention during Mrs. Kimura's class.

* * *

However, I do remember what happened after school.

I never thought I'd see the Yoshidas again. I'd assumed that meeting them was a one time thing, and that life would just go on as normal.

Well, I need to stop assuming.

After school, as Amaya and I started on the walk home, we heard something.

"Leiko! Amaya!"

We turned around to see Sumiko, Tokiwa, and Yumiko running after us.

"Hey!" Amaya greeted them. "What's up?"

"We need your help," Tokiwa told us. "These two twins called Yoi and Mika stole our Millennium Instruments!"

Amaya and I exchanged a look.

"Here we go again," I muttered.

* * *

**No, Leiko's French Horn never got taken, but hey, if someone gave me the flu and locked me in a smelly basement, I wouldn't want to see them again either.  
Bit shorter than before, because the end is nigh. This chapter is just kinda starting to lead up towards the ending, which will probably be within three chapters.  
This chapter is dedicated to LibitheWolf. Besides being awesome, I had to do this stupid project for Romeo and Juliet where I picked out the six most important roles and pick actors for them in a "modern movie". I don't care about actors, so this project took me at least 3 hours (Last minute working for the win!). While I never said I was doing the project while talking to LibitheWolf, well...the project would have been extremely dull without her. (It was still dull, but hey, I love distractions.)  
Also, I'm getting better by the day! Ah, sickness, I love it when you go away. I also love it when you prevent me from doing things I didn't want to do in the first place, but don't make it a regular thing. **


	13. Moving the Plot Along

**So, what's this about TV Tokyo suing 4Kids for the rights to YuGiOh? All I can say is yes.  
Last chapter's title? Well, Sumiko doesn't get captured all the time...but if I were him, I'd keep a tracking device on that Baritone. And not wear a pink dress.  
...That reminds me...**

* * *

"What do you mean, 'Here we go again'?" Yumiko asked us.

Amaya and I exchanged another glance.

"Your instruments were stolen by two twins named Mika and Yoi Saito," I told them.

"We just got out of a mess with them ourselves, where they tried to take Leiko's French Horn, but they ended up kidnapping us and giving us the flu," Amaya explained.

Tokiwa sighed. "This can't be a coincidence."

"It's probably not," I agreed. "Actually, we're pretty sure they're working for the same person who stole Sumiko's Baritone."

"About that..." Sumiko blushed. "I'm really sorry. Apparently the Baritone we recovered was a replica, not the real thing."

"What?"* Amaya and I asked at the same time.

"It looks like the real thing..." Sumiko muttered.

"Don't worry about it," I told him. "It's not your fault. It looked like the real thing to us too. We're going to get your Instruments back."

"...Tomorrow," Amaya added.

"Tomorrow? Why tomorrow?" I asked him.

Amaya shook his head. "We don't have time to do anything today. The sun's already going down, and if we don't hurry, we won't make it home by sundown. I want to help them now too, but there's simply not enough time."

Before I could argue, Yumiko interrupted me. "It's fine, Leiko. We understand. We need to get going too."

I smiled. "Alright, so tomorrow we'll meet after school?"

"Sounds like a plan!" Tokiwa agreed.

We then said our goodbyes and went our separate ways, eager for the next day's adventure.

* * *

Meanwhile, Mrs. Kimura was up to more mischief. She was sure those kids had already suspected those twins were working for her. She'd figured they would. They weren't stupid. But she couldn't let those two do everything for her. Hired or not, they were children. Mrs. Kimura didn't completely trust them, and if you want to get something done right, you do it yourself.

It was late, and no one was in the school. No one except for Mrs. Kimura. Due to her teaching position, she could get in any room when she wanted, with just one master key. Every teacher had one.

Mrs. Kimura inserted the master key into the lock, and the door opened. She entered the band room, a smirk on her face, and walked over to a certain band locker...

* * *

Band Class, the next day...

"Where is it?" I asked no one in particular, looking inside my band locker.

"Where's what?" Amaya asked me.

"My french horn...it's gone," I told him.

"That's rather unfortunate," my band teacher told me. "I'll keep an eye out for it for you."

"Thanks," I told her. I never saw her again. This was the last day I attended band class.

* * *

Amaya, the Yoshidas, and I all met up in the parking lot after school.

"We've got to do something now," I said. "My french horn's missing too, and I'm pretty sure I know who took it."

Yumiko nodded. "We need to put a stop to this."

"So, we're going to the Saito's house first," I announced. We'd already gone over this at some point in the day, but I like reminding people of things they know. "If there's nothing there, we'll move on to Mrs. Kimura's house."

"Roger that," Amaya said, and we went off.

* * *

After a little while, we arrived at the Saito's house.

"We're here," Amaya told the Yoshidas.

"Great!" Tokiwa exclaimed.

I opened the door, wondering what I would fine inside...

And then everyone died.

Only, that joke wasn't even that funny the first time.

Inside, random furniture was all over the place. Things were sitting in the most random places. It was the worst mess I'd ever seen.

In the midst of it all, Mika, Yoi, and Mrs. Kimura were standing there, waiting for us.

"You stole our Millennium Instruments, haven't you?" I accused them.

"Maybe we have, maybe we haven't," Mika replied, smirking.

"There's no maybe about it, we know you have!" Sumiko retorted.

"If you want your precious instruments back so badly..." Mrs. Kimura asked, "...why don't you play a card game with us to win them back?

* * *

**Again, shorter than I'd like, sorta uneventful, but it moves the plot forward, and that's what counts.  
I've actually started working on the last chapter in this story, as inspiration hit me while sitting on a school bus. I'm almost done with it, actually, and I know exactly how the rest of it goes. Very, very interesting chapter...  
Also, I've started working on those two decks I need. I got the first one (Dark Magician Girl) done, the second one should be easier. But due to massive research for this story, I'm going to take a slight break from it and spend a couple of days working on Island Total Drama. ITD needs the work more than this story now, and it deserves more attention than I've been giving it. **


	14. Plot Twists and Boredom

**Slightly painful? Yes. Fun? Considering all the stuff I learned from writing this chapter, yes. Am I glad this is over with now? Yes.  
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! (insert balloons, streamers, and cake here) What's that? It's someone's birthday? Why yes, we are celebrating someone's birthday!  
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIBITHEWOLF! I WROTE THIS CHAPTER FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY! YAAAAY! **

* * *

"A card game?" I asked. "Seriously, a card game?"

"I'm serious," Mrs. Kimura assured me.

"How childish is that?" I asked. "How old do you think I am, five?"

"Oh, no, this card game is popular among teenagers and adults," Mrs. Kimura assured me.

I sighed. "Alright, fine. What card game?"

"Duel Monst-"

"That game? Really? Let's duel, then," I agreed.

"I'm glad you're doing this willingly," Mrs. Kimura replied. "I thought I'd have to force you to duel me."

"Let's just make this quick. My parents could be wondering where I am at any moment," I told her. Just then, I felt something buzzing in my pocket. I took my cell phone out of my pocket to see I had a text message from my motherr. "Like now," I added as I opened the message. However, as soon as I pressed the button to open the message, my phone turned itself on and then back on. "Strange..." I commented as I opened up my inbox to read the message, but as soon as I did so my phone turned itself off.

"Do you have some sort of problem?" Mrs. Kimura asked.

"Oh, no, everything's fine." I put away my phone and withdrew my Duel Monsters deck from my pocket, as it was conveniently located so.

Mrs. Kimura handed me a strange machine. "Here, use this."

I put the machine on my arm and put my deck in the only slot of the machine that it would fit in. Strangely, it felt natural, like I was meant to do this or something...

Not that I was. This was still stupid. At least I had some idea of what I was doing.

"I see the surprised look on your face," Mrs. Kimura commented. "You feel like you already know what to do, even though you've never seen a Duel Disk, don't you? That doesn't matter. You go first."

I drew six cards and stared at them. Sage's Stone, Nobleman of Crossout, Giant Trunade, Magical Hats, Magic Cylindar, and Alpha the Magnet Warrior. I placed Magical Hats and Sage's Stone facedown and summoned Alpha the Magnet Warrior in facedown defense mode. I then ended my turn.

Mrs. Kimura then drew six cards. She stared at them for awhile, and then placed Blue Eyes White Dragon in attack mode.

"Wait, did you just summon Blue Eyes White Dragon without sacrificing any monsters?" I asked.

"Yes," she replied.

"Isn't that...against the rules?"

"Screw the rules! I'm your teacher!" Mrs. Kimura told me. She then ended her turn.

"I summon Giant Soldier of Stone," I said, ending my turn. It was in defense mode.

"Blue Eyes White Dragon kills your Giant Soldier of Stone, I summon another Blue Eyes White Dragon, it attacks your life points, you know have 7000 life points, your turn."

"I play Swords of Revealing Light," I said. "I also play White Magical Hat in Defense Mode. You turn."

"De-spell, your turn."

"I play Dark Magician, your turn." I decided from that point on that if she could summon what she wanted, I could as well.

"Interesting you play Dark Magician...I destroy White Magical Hat and Dark Magician, your turn."

I then decided this was the most boring thing I'd ever done with my life, and I also decided I would never do this again.

"Dark Hole."

"De-spell."

I sighed. "Then I use my other Dark Hole."

"I don't have any more De-spells..." Mrs. Kimura muttered as she discarded her Blue Eyes White Dragons into the Graveyard.

"And now it's time to play my favorite card." I smiled. It really was my favorite card. "I summon Dark Magician Girl and attack your life points directly."

"Your favorite card's Dark Magician Girl? That's funny."

"Just because it's not the most powerful card-"

"Not funny as in 'wow that card stinks why do you like it'. I meant that it'd be just like you to like it, wouldn't it?" Mrs. Kimura asked.

"...What do you mean?" I demanded.

"You don't know who you are, do you?"

"...My name is Leiko Sasaki...I'm a person. That's good enough for me."

"Really? It shouldn't be enough for you. Not considering who you are."

"Then tell me just who I am."

"You're the descendant of Yugi Muto."

"I think I've heard of him..."

"I've mentioned him more than once in class." Mrs. Kimura then explained to me who Yugi was.

"This guy is the most awesome and yet one of the strangest people I've ever heard of," I commented. "So I'm really related to him? That's awesome."

"I mentioned Seto Kaiba, didn't I? He was Yugi Muto's rival. I happen to be the descendant of Seto Kaiba."

"Okay..."

"History is repeating itself, Leiko. Yugi and Kaiba dueled many times, and now we're doing the same thing our ancestors did."

"Um...okay..." This was sort of weird, I had to admit.

"Am I related to anybody awesome like that?" Amaya asked. He'd been so quiet during the duel I'd almost forgotten he was there.

"Oh, yeah, you're descended from a couple of people, actually. I didn't really pay much attention to that. Their names were Baka and Melvin, or something like that," Mrs. Kimura told him.

"You mean Bakura and Marik?" I corrected her. "Wait, where did those names come from?"

"Actually, you're correct. So now that everyone knows who everyone is, shall we continue?"

"Please. This duel's boring me, actually."

"What?" Mrs. Kimura seemed surprised. "You're supposed to find this rather enjoyable. Why do you hate it so much?"

"We're standing here playing a card game that was probably originally intended for young children," I told her. "Why do you think?"

"But it involves a lot of strategy. You're supposed to like that. Also, you're supposed to like games and puzzles..."

"Let me get this straight. My name isn't Yugi Muto. I don't care what you think, I hate games and puzzles, they're wasting my time. Strategy is boring. I hate this. Whoever this Yugi guy was, I'm nothing like him. I don't care if I'm related to him or not, I'm nothing like him."

"That's disappointing."

"Too bad. Let's get this over with so I can get home before my mother calls the police. I end my turn."

"I summon Saggi the Dark Clown in defense mode and end my turn."

"I summon Winged Kuriboh. Dark Magician Girl attacks your Dark Clown thing, I attack your life points with Winged Kuriboh...what's this Kuriboh thing supposed to be? Whatever, I end my turn."

And so the duel went on for a long time, until finally...

"I attack your Blue Eyes White Dragon with Gaia the Fierce Knight and attack your life points with Gamma the Magnet Warrior. I win."

"You're talented at this game," Mrs. Kimura commented.

"Excellent. Now give us our stuff back."

And so we got our Millennium Instruments back.

"We were destined to meet." Apparently Mrs. Kimura felt like drilling it into my head that we were descendants of ancient rivals destined to meet and stuff. I really didn't care. "We'll meet again soon." She then left.

"Right. Your my teacher. I'll see you again tomorrow at noon. I'll try not to sleep again during class, but no promises." I turned to Amaya and the Yoshidas. "Let's go."

We then left.

"Can we have a duel later?" Amaya asked.

"No. We're never speaking of this again. Also, I'm never dueling again. I've never seen such a big waste of time, and I can't wait to forget this ever happened."

"It'd be fun!"

"I said no."

* * *

**Boring chapter? Yes. Interesting chapter? Yes.  
As for the whole "I'm descended from person A and you're descended from person B" thing, that was suggested by LibitheWolf AGES ago. While it isn't really an important part of the story, you may find this an interesting fact for future stories.  
What's that? The story's not done? Of course not! We need a big finale! A finale that I've already written! We need...  
AN EPILOGUE!  
Once again, Happy birthday LibitheWolf. I hope you may have enjoyed your birthday present. I feel like I falled on this, but I have a tendency to think that about everything I've done, so... **


	15. Five Months

**Epilogue- alternate titles: _What is This I Don't Even_ and _What Happened Next_  
Well, shall we continue? One short chapter that's already been written left, and I'm enjoying my break from Island Total Drama, which still has like 12 hours I can put it on hold for, so might as well finish this. Not like anyone cares.  
(insert more streamers and balloons here) HAPPY DAY AFTER YOUR BIRTHDAY LIBITHEWOLF! Yes, this is part of my birthday present for you you may or may not have seen at this time. And rest assured, I am cleaning my room. It's much cleaner now, and all I've done is put stuff in three small bins and move a few other things.**

* * *

At first, when all of this ended, I was happy. Who wouldn't be? The side of good had won, everybody was okay, I never had to play Duel Monsters again, and I'd even made some new friends along the way.

Life was good.

But then some...changes took place.

One thing that needs to be understood is that I hadn't always gone to that school with Amaya. At the time everything had finished, I had been there for about five months. My dad's job transferred him to the area. I didn't complain because I didn't care.

Then my parents became concerned. All they saw was that five months had passed by, and I was more 'sickly' and that I had sneaked out of the house on them more than I ever had. They were worried that the area was transforming me. Pretty soon, my dad was offered a job transfer. I'd never seen him so happy to accept.

Five months. Five months with the greatest people I'd ever met, and it was gone. I'd never see them again.

Five months, and we were in search of a new home. My parents tried to get me to look forward to it, but nothing they said or did could help to ease the pain I felt from the situation.

Soon after moving, I became depressed. I'd go through the school day, not saying anything, and then I'd sit in my room and mope. I didn't bother trying to make new friends. No one would be as great as the friends I'd left.

My depression decided to turn into insanity at some point. I gave people all the more reason to stay away from me. During school, I'd stand in front of my locker and just talk. I didn't talk about any certain thing. I just talked. Nor did I talk to any certain person. Contrarily, no one at all bothered to listen. It's just as well, as I didn't want anyone to listen. I just stood and talked.

For some reason, while in my maddening state of mind, I began drinking coffee. It's rather odd, actually, since coffee had nothing to do with anything, but I discovered I liked coffee. So I drank it.

Then, one day, extraordinary things happened.

I wasn't quite right in the mind, but I wasn't entirely insane, either. Plenty of people talk to themselves. Plenty of people drink coffee. Standing in front of my locker to talk to myself...perhaps I had a small screw loose. But on this specific day, I'd gone bonkers.

After school, for some reason I walked to a nearby park and sat down in a bench. I found an abandoned and empty Coke can and stared at it for awhile. Then I spoke to myself about something I tended to talk about a lot.

"I miss my old school," I said, continuing to stare at the can. "I miss my old friends. I even miss the old cafeteria food. This place isn't the same."

"Do you want it back?"

I looked around. No one was talking. "Are you God?"

"No."

"Am I completely nuts?" I demanded. After all, it seemed like I was hearing things.

"Who could blame you for asking?" the voice asked. "Don't worry, I'm not just any voice inside your head. I've been here for you all along."

Instinctively, I reached into my pants pocket. Feeling something inside, I pulled out a Duel Monsters card. A familiar face winked at me.

"Dark Magician Girl?" I asked. Dark Magician Girl had never spoken to me before, but in my crazy state of mind, I decided it was because I'd never bothered to listen.

Dark Magician Girl smiled at me. "I'm so happy I can finally talk to you. I've been worried about you."

I sighed. "I haven't quite gotten over leaving all my friends and my school behind."

"Haven't quite?" The picture on the card never moved, but I could easily picture her laughing. I still can, actually. "I'd say you haven't gotten over it at all. You want your old life back."

I nodded.

"If it meant leaving this place behind forever, would you take the opportunity to go back to your old home with your old friends?" Dark Magician Girl asked.

"I wouldn't even have to think about it for a second," I told her. "I'd do it in a heartbeat."

"I will grant your wish," Dark Magician Girl told me. "Just know that not everything will be the same..."

My vision started to fill up with white light, then everything went black.

* * *

"Ugh..." I moaned, sitting up in my bed. "That was some dream I had."

Me cell phone was sitting on a desk nearby my bed. As I began to stare at it, it sprang to life, its blue screen announcing a new text message.

I picked up the phone and saw the text message was from Amaya. I instantly felt myself fill with guilt. I hadn't talked to him in weeks. Nervous, I opened the message and, after reading it, smiled.

"_It's the start of a new year_!" Amaya had texted me. "_You ready?_"

"_Of course. I was born ready!_" I texted back, grinning.

I was back to my old School Days with Amaya.

* * *

**So, what'd you think?  
Probably 'where the heck is this going?', right?  
Don't ask about the insanity thing, that was random on my end. As for the epilogue, the sole purpose of the epilogue, other than showing what happened next, is to make School Days a sequel to this story. That was the whole reason I made you endure another chapter of this story.  
So now, if you enjoyed this story, wait in maddening anticipation for School Days to continue. Unless you're already waiting for Island Total Drama, because that's coming out soon... **


End file.
